


The Centre Of A Hurricane

by Chloe_Hallow_Eve



Series: Black Paladin Lance [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Musical References, Post-Season/Series 02 (Voltron), Strategist Lance, black paladin lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 06:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10530387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chloe_Hallow_Eve/pseuds/Chloe_Hallow_Eve
Summary: Lance and the others form Voltron for the first time.Set after Blue's Acceptance





	

The first time they formed Voltron without Shiro, there was a peace. The first time their minds yawned to each other and connected without their proper leader, there was chaos. The first time the five of them felt each other’s feelings, knew each other’s intentions, and read each other’s thoughts, Lance found himself in the centre of a hurricane.

 

The wind screamed in his ears, yet there was a hush in his mind. He felt the tug and sway of power, yet was more aware than ever of his mortality. It was as if he were standing at the top of a mountain, wind ripping at him, making it impossible to breathe, yet the exhilaration and beauty charged him.

 

“In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet, for just a moment. A yellow sky.” Lance sung quietly, shooting a grin at his best friend when Hunk snorted.

 

“Alright, team.” Lance didn’t waste time celebrating, they had more important things to focus on. For one, the battleships in front of him. “I see some ion cannons, and that ‘centre of controls’ kind of ship has something new. We’ll need to be smart about this. Coran, how many larger ships are there?”

 

The com crackled in his ear, something that had become comforting, before Coran’s voice exploded out. “I’d say ten, at least. They might have backup on the way.”

 

“How many mini fighters are in each big one?”

 

There was a contemplative silence, then, “About fifty.”

 

“Ten big ones, five hundred little ones.” Pidge mumbled, the frown in their voice evident.

 

“What does it matter?” Keith snapped. “We need to attack before we get hit!”

 

Keith was right, of course. They were just dodging any and all shots, taking a few hits. They couldn’t keep that up forever. Lance had to think fast.

 

“Coran, send me an image of the battlefield. I’d prefer it to be gridded, please.”

 

“Right away!” There was a flurry of typing, and suddenly Black moved the controls and the console back a bit to accommodate for the 3D gridded map that popped into existence. “There you are, my boy!”

 

“Lance,” The Princess started, voice straining with the effort to both keep them moving and keep them upright, “What are you thinking?”

 

Lance took a moment to examine the grid. There was a miniature Voltron flying at the end closest to Lance, moving with the machine he was currently in. The closest battle ships were five squares horizontally away, about one hundred feet, but the ones at the back (twenty squares horizontally) that were blocked from everyone’s view was starting to deploy the smaller fighters. They’re hoping for a sneak attack, Lance realized.

 

“Pidge, does the elbow on your side have thrusters?”

 

“Uh, yeah, I think so? I can’t really tell.”

 

Lance would take that as a yes. “Hunk, summon the blaster on Pidge instead of Keith.”

 

“Can I do that? Is that a thing I can do? Isn’t Voltron, like, built for specific things and the side it appears on is the side that won’t fall off?”

 

“Hunk, bud, have a little faith in me.”

 

“That would be easier if you told us what you’re doing!” Keith shouted, taking a hit.

 

Lance ignored the jab. “Keith, summon the blade at the same time, and swing when I tell you to.”

 

Though Lance felt suspicion and doubt through the bonds of Voltron, Hunk and Keith did as ordered. Pidge did, in fact, have to activate their elbow thrusters to keep the thing upright. It also meant Hunk and Allura had to work harder to not get thrown off balance. But if they did this right, they wouldn’t have to move much.

 

“Hunk, Allura, only dodge the hits we can’t afford to take.”

 

“Isn’t that all of them?” Hunk replied the same Allura said, “Understood.”

 

“And lastly, before we go into this, don’t go full power on the blaster, guys. We both need to keep ourselves upright and be able to make multiple shots quickly. Keith, the sword is going to have to act as a makeshift shield as well as a weapon. Everyone think they can handle that?”

 

There was a chorus of determined ‘yes’s, making Lance grin. His eyes glued to the grid, he instructed Pidge where to aim. There was an ion cannon on one of the ships (seven away forwards, two away to the left, and one down) that was charging, and Lance wanted to get rid of it before it could fire.

 

It went down when it was fully charged, about to fire, and took a portion of the ship with it. Hunk whooped.

 

“Keith, battle cruisers coming up in five ticks.”

 

“Got it.”

 

“Pidge, aim for the next cannon.”

 

“Right.”

 

Lance watched the grid, hands flying over his controls to help the others as they moved the body. Keith began slashing at the ships that came into range, but the swipes weren’t as powerful as usual. They still managed to take out the battle cruisers, but wouldn’t come close to finishing off one of the battleships. Lance cursed himself mentally. Of course it wasn’t turning out as effective; not many could shoot a gun and stab someone at the same time efficiently.

 

“Hunk, put the blaster away after we take care of the other ion cannons. Pidge, once it’s gone, bring out the shield.”

 

They didn’t move fast enough. One of the ion cannons managed to charge and blast before they could get to it, throwing Voltron off balance. The weapons disappeared. The grid in front of Lance flickered.

 

“Okay, blaster away early. Sword and shield time. Let’s go.” Lance grunted, flicking some controls around to stabilize Voltron.

 

“Lance, lets go for the main ship first.” Keith’s words sounded like something between a command and a suggestion.

 

Lance contemplated, examining the playing field. Because that’s what this was, _a game._ A _dangerous_ game that could cost them their lives. “Sounds good. If we approach from under, it will give them less time to react. We’ll have to blast through the smaller fighters or ignore them, though, since if we’re slowed down too much they could predict our attack.”

 

After everyone agreed, they moved in.

 

They were halfway there, four by one by two squares away, when the Galra seemed to catch on. The amount of cruisers seemed to multiply. They tried to cut a path, holding out against the hits. This wasn’t good. The longer it took to take them out, the long-

 

“Paladins! Watch out!” Coran shouted.

 

Lance’s eyes snapped to the grid. One of the ion cannons was aimed and charged. Lance swore in Spanish, about to order them to move, when the words died in his throat.

 

The planet was directly in the line of fire. If Voltron moved, the natives would get hit. Lance’s grip on the controls tightened. Black purred in the back of his mind, comforting and understanding. They couldn’t move. They had to get hit. The people down in the atmosphere had lost so much already, they couldn’t add to their loss.

 

But the others didn’t pick up on his intentions like the last time they had formed Voltron, when Shiro was still here. Instead, they saw the ion cannon, and decided collectively to move. The ties between them all shook, but didn’t break, making the decision without their leader. Lance shouted, panic racing to the others, making them only move faster. The ion cannon, whirred, prepared to fire.

 

Then it stopped, the built up light flickering and going out. Lance blinked, eyes flicking from the cannon to the grid. Even when they moved, they would have still gotten clipped, and the Galra were all about firing even if it’s not perfect. Lance gave the thought another few seconds before he cast it to the far corners of his mind. He needed to focus on the mission. He could think about this later.

 

After the initial scare, and miscommunication, they all seemed to align to a single wavelength. Lance didn’t have to give the orders when they fought through the cruisers and slashed through the main command ship.

 

* * *

 

In the end, they’d been able to take out all but one of the important ships, the last one fleeing, leaving the battle cruisers stranded. Allura sent out a warning to the planet they’d just helped free, saying that they had enough resources and freedom to take back the rest themselves. The natives, who had been reluctant to take assistance, and wanted to gain their freedom alone, thanked them. They said they would send another distress beacon straight to them if anything went wrong, one that was much faster and more advanced than the one sent thousands of years ago that the Paladins had responded to. With that, they hopped through a wormhole. Everyone had been reluctant at first, wanting to make sure the natives would actually be alright, but knew it was probably best for the people’s safety if they left.

 

Lance was on the bridge with Allura, helmet under his arm, frowning at the stars. Now that he had a moment to think, he couldn’t stop going over how the ion cannon had just… discharged. Something wasn’t connecting. Lance didn’t believe it was a malfunction, Galran techknowledgey was extremely advanced, and that ship hadn’t taken any damage. But for what reason did they shut it down? There was a missing piece, but Lance didn’t know what he didn’t know. He couldn’t even fathom what had happened, or why.

 

And that wasn’t it. They had been on the planet when the attack began, but none of the ships had fired until they were out of the atmosphere. Something about that set Lance off.

 

It couldn’t be that they actually cared, could it?

  


Lance jumped when a hand came down on his shoulder. Hunk leaned into his vision, soft smile in place. “Hey bud. What’s that face for?”

 

Pidge slid in on his other side, using his waist as an armrest. “You keep doing that, you’ll grow a mullet.”

 

Lance snorted. “Please, I’d need to brood _and_ listen to My Chemical Romance before I turn into Keith.”

 

Allura turned to shoot him a glare. She looked confused by his references, but he was making fun of Keith, so he kind of deserved it. Lance stuck his tongue out at the Princess anyways. She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to making system checks.

 

“But, really man, you’ve been standing here for twenty doboshes. What’s up?”

 

The black paladin shifted his weight to support both of his friends weights better. “Did you… notice how the ion cannon didn’t fire?”

 

“Everyone did, Lance. We were moving to dodge it, and then it shut down.” Pidge frowned. “I was wondering about it too. I haven’t thought of a reason that makes sense yet.”

 

Lance huffed. “It probably doesn’t matter, human error or something. Well, Galran error. Pilot error?”

 

“Whatever it was, it was weird, and we can stop thinking about it.” Hunk patted his back a few times. “I’m gonna take a shower. Learning how to form Voltron all over again took a lot out of me. You gonna stay here?”

 

Lance nodded. “I want to get a status report on the castle before I relax. You two go on ahead.”

 

Hunk offered him one last smile before he and Pidge wandered out. Lance sighed, looking back out at the stars. He didn’t recognise any of them. He didn’t expect to. But it still hurt sometimes, when he realized just how far he was from home. How far he was from his family, his friends. He wondered what the Garrison told them.

 

Lance took a breath, counting to ten, then let it out slowly. He couldn’t think about that right now. Maybe tonight, when he was alone, he could miss home. But not right now.

 

Lance approached Allura. “How is everything looking?”

 

“Almost all systems are perfectly fine. There are a few that need repairs, and some could be updated, but nothing we can’t handle later.” Allura took her hands off of the crystals, turning to Lance. “We shouldn’t hold off too long, though.”

 

Lance nodded. “Go take a break, Princess. You’ve earned it.”

 

Allura smiled slightly, patting his arm. “Same to you, Lance.” She slipped out of the room quickly.

 

Lance chuckled. She’d have to be really tired to allow herself to leave just like that. Speaking of which, Lance felt dead on his feet. But that’s what he gets for continuing training even on diplomatic days. He just needed to check on Coran and Keith, then he could take a shower and lie in bed for five years.

 

Keith was, as expected, on the training deck. Lance almost wanted to laugh. Keith could go for days, couldn’t he? Lance knocked on the doorframe, catching Keith’s attention. He called the training sequence to stop, jogging over quickly.

 

“Yeah?”

 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Hi to you too, Keith.”

 

Keith frowned. “We saw each other less than an hour ago, Lance.”

 

“Still. Formalities and such.” He waved the topic off before it turned into an argument. “Anyways, you need to go shower and rest up. I can’t have you overworking. The others have already started relaxing, and I think you should join them.”

 

Keith began walking away with a quick, “No thanks.”

 

“Hey!” Lance latched onto his arm, dragging Keith back. “Okay, what if I call it ‘surprise team bonding exercises’?”

 

Keith narrowed his eyes. Lance batted his eyelashes. Keith sighed. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

 

Lance grinned. “Nope! Get a move on, Mullet.”

 

It was Keith’s turn to roll his eyes. He stepped around Lance, then paused. “Hey, Lance.”

 

“Hm?”

 

Keith bit his lip, considering. “...Why didn’t you move out of the way? Of the ion cannon. We’d all decided to and understood each other, but you didn’t. Why not?”

 

Lance crossed his arms, drumming his fingers. “If we moved out of the way, the planet we _just finished saving_ would’ve gotten hit. Now that I’m looking at it subjectively, I know dodging would have been the better option, since we need to keep fighting and stuff, but I still would have taken that shot. Good of the many over the good of the few, in that moment, you know? So.” Lance shrugged. “I would have let the ion cannon hit us. Probably for the best that it ended up not firing.”

 

Keith nodded slowly. His brows creased in thought. “I… guess I get where you’re coming from.”

 

“Cool. Now, go shower. I do _not_ want to know what your stale sweat smell is.”

 

Keith glared at him, not without humour, and started walking down the hallway. Lance headed the opposite direction, already knowing Coran would probably be shoulder deep in the engines. He wondered if it was cool or sad that he was able to know these things.

 

* * *

 

Everyone had showered, then gravitated to the common rooms. They just sat in silence, soaking up the time they could relax. But there was an underlying tension. The anticipation for what was to come, if it came.

 

Lance tossed a sock ball to Hunk. “Should we talk to Slav soon?” There was a collective groan from the others. Lance caught the sock ball. “I’m just saying, he might have figured something out by now. And plus, we need to keep relations with the Blade up. Ignoring them is not keeping relations up.”

 

Allura sighed, lowering her tablet. “While you are correct, I would rather not meet with them for a while longer. We still are struggling with Voltron, and I would wish to be at our best when we reunite with the Blade.”

 

Lance hummed in passive agreement, throwing the sock ball. She had a point. If the Blade of Marmora decided to test them, things wouldn’t end pretty.

 

“Alright, then.” Lance sat up from his position on the floor, allowing the sock ball to hit him in the chest. “Tomorrow, we’ll begin abstract team training. Instead of it being, like, simulator training, it’ll be games or just hanging out. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but trust me, if we just get to know each other better, it’ll help.”

 

“Is this just an excuse to be lazy?” Pidge asked, not looking up from their laptop.

 

“That might be, Pidgeotto. That just might be.”

 

Keith snorted, leaning against the couch a bit behind him, and snatched the sock ball out of his lap. “Knowing you, you’d probably end up making us play middle school games like truth or dare or something.” He tossed the ball at Lance’s head playfully.

 

Lance ducked, squaking. “Hey! I would not!” He sniffed. “We’ll play drama games.”

 

“Oh, wow, that’s so much more mature. You’re right Lance, I take it all back.”

 

Lance ignored the thick sarcasm, aiming the ball for Keith’s nose. He cheered when it hit, then screamed when Keith lunged.

  
Lance might be millions of light years away from home, but he was okay. He might be slightly depressed and sometimes feel ignored, but that was fine. He had his friends, his second family, to protect. And as long as he could fight for them, he would feel like he was fighting for the whole of Earth. And really, that’s all Lance needed to keep going.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I got a tumblr account. I don't know why. It's goddess-of-kindness if you want to check it out. 
> 
> Anywho, that is the update for this week! I feel like it's missing something, but I can't really think of what, so I'm gonna post it and see how I feel about it later. Might edit it later. Who knows. I finished this when half of my brain was asleep, but I think it's alright. 
> 
> The next update will be the first update that follows the flow of time! Exciting, I know. But it's just gonna be angst, I'm telling you now. 
> 
> Alright everybody, thank you so much for reading! All of your comments and kudos make my day. I love you all, and will see you next week! Have a good one~!


End file.
